Boris Johnson ducks leadership bid grilling as Brexiteers blast Theresa May's Chequers deal
3 min read
Boris Johnson today refused to address speculation that he is plotting a leadership challenge against Theresa May, as he defended a controversial claim the Prime Minister had strapped Britain to a "suicide vest".
The former Foreign Secretary appeared at an event packed with Tory Brexiteers to promote new research on the projected economic benefits to the UK of leaving the EU.
Confronted by journalists over his leadership ambitions, Mr Johnson – who was in the audience – refused to answer, but did dismiss Theresa May’s Chequers deal as “worse than” remaining part of the bloc.
He said: “In abandoning our seat around the table in Brussels and continuing to accept the single market legislation in all manner of things…we will be exposing UK businesses, manufacturers, entrepreneurs, innovators to whatever rules the EU decides in the future to devise – even though those rules may well be inimical to the interests of UK innovation.
“And that seems to me to be the particular, inordinate risk in Chequers that makes it substantially worse than the status quo.”
Speaking to Talk Radio afterwards, the Tory heavyweight also defended a recent article in which he likened Mrs May’s Brexit approach to strapping Britain into a "suicide vest".
The ex-Cabinet minister’s remarks sparked a backlash from his colleagues, with even some allies suggesting he had gone too far.
But Mr Johnson hit back at the criticism today, saying: “I think you need to go off and read the whole article and read it to your readers.
“That is my advice to you. Declaim it. You’ll find it goes down very well."
Elsewhere at the Economists for Free trade event, arch-eurosceptics Jacob Rees-Mogg and Steve Baker vowed to kill off the Prime Minister’s Brexit proposals if they are put before Parliament, insisting that they had enough support from Tory backbenchers to bring down the Chequers plan.
The pair also hit back at questions on the future leadership of the Conservative party, saying that the two issues were unrelated.
Mr Rees-Mogg said: “The vote on the [Brexit] legislation will not be a vote of confidence, so we can vote down the bad Chequers proposals on Monday and support the Government in a vote of confidence on the Tuesday.
“They are clear, separate things and trying to align them I think is a mistake."
He added: "I am telling you that the number of Conservative MPs that are willing to vote on amendment s in protest at Chequers – when we had that protest lined up before summer – was nearly 80.”
‘PROJECT FANTASY’
Speaking on behalf of the the People's Vote campaign for a second Brexit referendum, Labour MP Chuka Umunna blasted Mr Rees-Mogg as part of an "elite that is completely out-of-touch with the lives of ordinary people".
He said: "The latest Project Fantasy document from advocates of an ultra-hard Brexit promises to take us to a land of milk-and-honey, when the reality is that, before we have even left, Brexit is forcing up prices in the shops, destabilising our economy and stripping our health service of the doctors and nurses that it so badly needs.
"Whether it is Theresa May’s car crash Brexit, or Jacob Rees-Mogg’s disastrous no deal Brexit, one thing we know about Brexit is that it is an unholy mess and the gap between what we were promised and the best we can hope for is getting wider every day."
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
